1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless terminal; more particularly, to a wireless terminal for use with wireless communications systems of different carriers, network types, or modes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common for prior art wireless terminals to provide a visual indication, generally of the present roaming status when the terminal is in a standby state. However, such an indication is not generally provided when the terminal is on a call, and even if it were, such a visual indication would not be seen or noticed by the user when the terminal is in active use. Consequently, the user is not generally aware of a change from a non-roaming status to a roaming status which occurs when the terminal is moved through or in the neighborhood of a coverage area boundary while on a call, and is certainly not aware at all of an impending change to roaming status, before the actual change occurs.
The change to a roaming status while on a call can be particularly expensive when there is a so-called hard handoff between a digital PCS (Personal Communications Services operating at 1900 MHZ) network of the user's primary carrier to an analog cellular or AMPS (Analog Mobile Phone System operating at 800 MHZ) network of a secondary carrier that would charge the user as a roamer. In this situation, the user may incur a per minute charge that the user considers excessive, and may also incur an additional per call or per day charge. Such hard handoffs from digital PCS to analog networks while on a call are rather common, because the buildout of PCS networks in the United States is incomplete and primarily existing in densely populated areas. This leads to customer dissatisfaction with the primary PCS carrier as a result of unexpected charges due to roaming.